We held the second session of YEA Camp for Adults at Woodstock Farm Sanctuary in New Paltz, New York.

Here are some of the highlights from YEA Camp 2019.

Our 11th Summer

This was our 11th summer hosting YEA Camp for teens ages 12 – 17 and we are so grateful for the opportunity to work with these inspiring young people. 

Our first youth camp was held at Nature’s Classroom in Charlton, Massachusetts from July 13 – 20. Our second youth camp was held at Camp Buckhorn in Idyllwild, California from August 3 – 10. 

We had around fifty campers at each youth session representing two dozen states and three countries. 

From June 30 – July 6, 22 campers from 12 states stayed with us at Woodstock Farm Sanctuary in New Paltz, New York for the second ever session of YEA Camp for Adults. From yoga in the morning to meeting with farmed animals after lunch, from workshops on gender and race to trainings on communication and fundraising, our campers had the perfect mix of self-care and reflection while also learning valuable skills to help advance their activism.

We love our YEA Camp Massachusetts staff!

Between the three sessions of camp, we were so blessed to have 35 amazing staff members from 16 different states.

Our Impact

Juan Antonio Nelson is an Iowa college student who flew all the way to New York to attend adult camp. When asked about the experience, he said, “Without YEA Camp, I wouldn’t feel that I could make a difference in my immediate community. I wouldn’t have the courage to stand up for others. If not for YEA Camp, I wouldn’t have met a strong community of activists who are passionately advocating for what they believe in.”

A few months ago, former YEA Camper and current YEA staff member Ananya Singh was featured on the Perennials Podcast. In the podcast, Ananya says, “When I was 12 years old, the summer before eighth grade, I attended this summer camp called Youth Empowered Action and this is a camp for teen activists and it really was a life changing experience for me. It exposes you to so many different social issues that are going on in the world and kind of takes the approach of intersectionality and showing how all of these issues are so interconnected and then really breaking down what is possible for young people to do.”

YEA Camp staff member Ananya Singh in action at the Morristown, New Jersey Climate Strike

We also recently shared the story of former YEA Camper Leah Kelly who FIVE years after attending camp, wrote this blog post where she says, “Five and a half years ago, as a 15-year-old, I attended Youth Empowered Action (YEA) Camp for the first time and my life was changed immeasurably. I can’t imagine how different my life would have been from then on had I not spent that pivotal week learning what it means to be an effective agent of change and forming lasting connections that supported, and continue to support me as I navigate a chosen path of social justice and fighting for what I believe in.”

Our Brand New Program

This year, we also launched the first-ever YEA Camp Volunteer-a-thon. The Volunteer-a-thon was created to encourage our community in service and activism while raising money for the YEA Camp Scholarship Fund. 

Dima Bischoff-Hashem created an awesome Volunteer-a-thon project supporting her Issue of Importance, animal rights!

Participants created donor pages, shared what activism they would be working on, and asked their loved ones to “sponsor” them in their work. You can read more about three of our camper’s projects at this link and click here to read what one camper wrote about the experience. 

All funds raised through the Volunteer-a-thon go towards the YEA Camp Scholarship Fund which makes camp accessible for all who want to attend. 

This year, 51 of our 100 participants received financial aid and 17 of those campers were on full scholarships. Overall, we funded $66,400 of financial aid this year.  

Our Gratitude

We cannot say thank you enough to everyone who made camp possible. From our food donors to our staff to our donors, thank you. 

Helping ourselves to vegan pizza with Miyoko’s Cheese and more toppings than we can count!

Thanks to two generous donors, we also have a special opportunity through the end of the year. All donations given before the end of the year will be TRIPLED. Click here to learn more and to donate to our Scholarship Fund. 

Every year at YEA Camp, we have the privilege of meeting passionate and activated changemakers who are taking the world by storm. We feel so grateful to be a part of their story and look forward to supporting you in making a bigger difference on the causes you care most about, too!

See You Next Summer

Do you want to experience YEA Camp for yourself next summer, or know someone who would love to join us? 

We are eagerly preparing for 2020 and are excited to offer an Early Bird special registration for $250 off those who sign up before the end of the year. Do you know someone who would be great for YEA Camp? Nominate them here!

• Youth Camp: in Ventura, California (July 5 – 12) and Charlton, Massachusetts (August 1 – 8)
• Adult Camp: in Lanoka Harbor, New Jersey (July 18 – 24)

See you next summer!

The post Thank You for Another Great Year of YEA appeared first on YEA Camp.

Youth Empowered Action (YEA) Camp was founded in 2009 to teach young people age 12 – 17 how to make a bigger difference on causes they care about. After years of people asking, in 2018, YEA Camp expanded to offer a session for the 18+ crowd. YEA Camp for Adults was born.

YEA Camp for Adults is hosted at Woodstock Farm Sanctuary in High Falls, New York and is the perfect combination of leadership conference, self-care retreat, and activism training all set to the playful and relaxing scene of summer camp.

But what is it really like to attend summer camp as an adult? Just ask Martina Gauderer, a 2018 camper.

The Inside Scoop on Adult Summer Camp

“YEA Camp for Adults exceeded my expectations in all the best possible ways. I only wish I’d been a camper 20 some years ago! As a 35-year-old with almost zero camp experience as a kid, I was delighted by all the FUN camp activities (games, dance parties, talent show, etc). It made me feel like a kid – energized and excited!

But most importantly, this camp planted seeds and gave me practical tools to take my activism to the next level. Even the most seasoned activist (I’ve been involved in various causes, campaigns, etc. for most of my adult life) can get A LOT out of the workshops and presentations offered by the camp. Perhaps most important were the activities based on confidence and community building.

As I zoned in on the issues that were most important to me as an activist, I felt lifted up, supported, and encouraged in a way I never have before in activist circles. I came away with a strong community that still keeps in touch!

Here’s Martina looking at the rescued animals in the field at Woodstock Farm Sanctuary

During camp, I was able to create a roadmap of strategy and goals that addressed my issue of importance. Campers zone in on their issue over the week. My issue of importance is something I carried with me well after camp. It has since lead me (even the most introverted of people) to build a strong activist community in my daily life, starting projects and creating real, tangible change.

Truly, I cannot speak highly enough of YEA Camp, Nora Kramer (the founder) and all of the wonderful staff! Best of all? YEA Camp for Adults is at one of the most wonderful places on earth, Woodstock Farm Sanctuary! It’s the perfect setting to inspire and create change.

Plus, the food is off the charts!! I’m forever a supporter of this incredible LIFE CHANGING camp for WORLD CHANGING people!”

Are You Ready for Summer Camp?

Are you looking for an inspiring and meaningful way to spend your summer? It’s not too late to register for YEA Camp for Adults 2019. And, of course, if you know a 12-17-year-old who wants to know how they can do more to make our world a better place, YEA Camp’s youth camp is the place to be!

The post What Summer Camp for Adults Really Looks Like appeared first on YEA Camp.

Youth Empowered Action (YEA) Camp is a teen leadership camp that has trained over 600 young people to make a difference on causes like climate change, LGBT equality, racism, sexism, poverty, animal cruelty, bullying in schools, and more. Now in its 10th year, YEA Camp will be holding its annual summer camps for youth ages 12-17, with sessions in Massachusetts and California.

With many adults over the years lamenting to us their wish that YEA Camp had been around when they were teens, this summer YEA Camp is launching its first ever session for adults.

What: YEA Camp for Adults
When: July 1-7, 2018
Where: Woodstock Farm Sanctuary; High Falls, NY
More information: www.yeacamp.org/adults

In the current political climate, many people are getting involved with activism and politics for the first time.

People are increasingly concerned about income inequality, health care, police brutality and mass incarceration, women’s rights and the #metoo movement, gun control, climate change, food justice and animal cruelty, and other social justice issues. Progressives are also gearing up for an important election year in 2018.

Yet, many people who have recently gotten engaged have little training or support to help them get more involved with these issues.

Enter YEA Camp.

“It can be intimidating to get involved in activism if you’re new to it, regardless of your age,” said YEA Camp Founder and Director Nora Kramer, an activist herself for almost 2 decades. “Over the years, we have developed YEA Camp to ensure that people have the tools they need to be effective advocates and to make a bigger difference on the causes that are most important to them. With all the problems in our world, we’re thrilled to finally be able to make our camps available for adults as well as teens.”

YEA Camp focuses on cultivating people’s knowledge, skills, confidence, and community to help them make an even bigger impact on the social justice issue they are most passionate about – all in the context of a fun, rejuvenating, inspiring weeklong summer camp.

YEA Camp for Adults will take place at Woodstock Farm Sanctuary, an animal sanctuary for rescued farm animals. The weeklong camp will be held during the week of 4th of July, 2018.

There will be two sessions of YEA Camp this summer for teens as well, one in Massachusetts and one in California. Visit YEACamp.org for details.

To find out all about YEA Camp for Adults, or to register, visit www.yeacamp.org/adults or contact YEA Camp at info @ yeacamp.org or 415-710-7351.

The post New Summer Camp Trains Adults to Change the World appeared first on YEA Camp.

Turkeys are much more complex animals than most people give them credit for. They are friendly, loving animals and of comparable intelligence to the dogs and cats so many of us care about. Unfortunately, though, they are not protected by the same animal cruelty laws, and about 40 million of them are treated miserably and killed horrifically for Thanksgiving dinners across the US.

At YEA Camp, we attract some of the most kind-hearted teens on the planet: changemakers who care about animals, the environment, and all people (who are animals too!). This Thanksgiving we are remembering our New York session of camp, held at the inspirational Woodstock Animal Sanctuary, where our campers have loved meeting, hugging, and even massaging(!) the sanctuary’s turkeys, who are living life in paradise after suffering miserably on factory farms.

In honor of Thanksgiving, we are reflecting on our campers who this summer got to see turkeys as friends, not food.

We are grateful for everyone who is celebrating a compassionate “Happy Turkey Day” today — perhaps enjoying a delicious Tofurky or other delicious cruelty-free main dishes. And of course amazing side dishes too!

If you are a 12-17 year-old who cares about animals and would want to join us at YEA Camp this summer, we will be opening up registration next week — including an “early bird” special (no pun intended!) for the month of December.

The post YEA Campers Love Turkeys! appeared first on YEA Camp.

We say it every year, and every year it is true! This was our best summer yet!

With Labor Day gone and, with it, the symbolic end to summer, we are still basking in the accomplishments of our seventh(!) year of epic, life-changing summer camps.

It is impossible to capture in a blog post, but we will try to expand on “WOW!” with a few highlights, outcomes, and testimonials from the campers themselves.

Who, What, When, Where, Wow

• We reached more campers than ever before this summer. Almost 100 youth ages 11-17 came from 16 different states and the District of Columbia to attend.
• We held our first ever issue-specific camp, YEA Camp for Animal Advocates, at the incredible new location ofWoodstock Farm Sanctuary, less than 2 hours from Manhattan, attracting extremely committed and accomplished young advocates such as 14-year-old Avalon from Florida, the founder of the nonprofit Conserve It Forward, and 16-year-old Phoebe from California, “PETA’s Coolest Vegan Alive,” as well as up-and-coming advocates who are just getting started on their activist path.
• Our staff was incredible – from Michael Starkey, a wildlife biologist with Save the Frogs in Central America, to Chloe Falkenheim, the 18-year-old founder of VegYouth, to Charles Orgbon, the CEO of the youth-run nonprofit Greening Forward, to so many more incredible adult mentors — classroom teachers, nonprofit organizers, and all-around do-gooders in life — thrilled to support younger advocates.
  
• Campers from our California and Oregon sessions this summer have already had a reunion that they initiated! Some have also met up to go leafleting, tabling, and protesting; launched fundraisers; launched clubs at their school; and been extremely active on the causes they care about in ways they had never done before YEA Camp. More on that below.

YEA Camp exposes teens
to things they may never learn elsewhere.

A few key things campers learned that they may never have otherwise learned without YEA Camp:

• Each of us has a huge capacity to bring about change, and we can’t allow limiting beliefs we have about ourselves or negativity that others may project on to us to hold us back.
• The interconnection of seemingly unrelated social justice issues — from animal advocacy to poverty, pollution to racism – expanding their understanding of the challenges we face and their deepening their desire and ability to help.
• Skills like grassroots outreach, campaign planning, fundraising, arts activism, and time management.
• Nonviolent communication techniques to connect with people and to feel more confident speaking with those who disagree — inspiring people to want to learn more versus nagging or judging them for being uninformed.
• Tools to inspire others to get involved and examples of ways that current activists and those throughout history have brought about change.
• Self-care approaches to cope with the injustices of our world and the difficulty of bringing about the change we want.
• They are not alone. There are many other people and organizations who care as much as they do and who want to support them in making a difference.

 What Campers Say:

“My time here this past week has shaped my life in a way that I didn’t even know was possible. It opened my heart and mind to what I can do to help the world we live in, and gave me tools to fight for my cause.” – Ollie, 14, NJ

“This has been one of the best experiences of my life — for the confidence I have gained, the friends I have made, and the change I know I will make.” -Eva, 14, NY

“This camp has helped me feel so confident and empowered. As someone who has struggled feeling confident and worthy, this camp changed my whole life. Going home I will be focusing on combatting the unrealistic harmful view on body image as well as gender roles by helping middle schoolers and others feel good.” -Ashley, 16, Oregon

“YEA Camp was an amazing experience for me. I have acquired the skills that I need to change the world for the good. I used to be shy and did not want to speak up, but YEA Camp has taught me to speak up. I feel good about myself, like I can change the world.” -Angel, 12, Oregon

“YEA Camp has been an amazing and life-changing experience for me. I have had so much support and learned so many things about important issues such as animal rights, LGBTQ rights, sexism, racism, and gender identities…. I am so incredibly thankful for all that I have learned and experienced at this camp.” -Carolyn, 14, California

Most Importantly, What Campers Have Done:

SO MUCH! We love to celebrate our campers’ many accomplishments! Here is just a small sampling of the things our campers have told us they have done in the short time since camp ended.

• Many campers have gone leafleting for their first time ever, passing out flyers on causes they care about. They have reported having great experiences! Here, Maya and Luzia met up to pass out leaflets about reproductive choice, vegetarianism, and their favorite presidential candidate: Bernie Sanders. Five other campers met up at a talk Bernie Sanders gave and passed out leaflets there!
• Orianna, 14, from a conservative part of California, reached out to a former teacher who has agreed to allow her to teach his elementary students a 20-minute class once a week on gender roles! She is bringing in toys, asking them which are for boys and which are for girls and why, having them analyze media, and having them learn about and deconstruct stereotypes.

• 

  Twelve-year-old Zinn testified at an Oregon Department of Agriculture hearing to oppose the  expansion of dairies in the state.

• Seven YEA Campers joined in a huge protest at the zoo to advocate for elephants.
• A group of YEA Campers from NY are fundraising for Farm Sanctuary’s annual Walk for Farm Animals, and all together campers from around the country have fundraised over $2,000!

THANK YOU.

Getting to actually spend the summer at YEA Camp in such a space of inspiration and community is such a joy — and it would not be possible without the efforts and contributions of so many people.

To all of our amazing campers, THANK YOU for being your amazing selves! You inspire all of us that our world can change and is changing for the better!

To our campers’ parents and families, THANK YOU for trusting us with your children and supporting their efforts to change the world!

To our incredible staff, THANK YOU for everything you did — from helping a camper with their action plan to doing the dishes — to make this summer so incredible.

To everyone who donated money toward our scholarship funds and operations, THANK YOU for making it possible for us to exist and to help so many young leaders along on their path.

To all of the companies who donated incredible food, THANK YOU for helping us eat so well, and for your contributions that made it possible for us to keep our costs down so we could accept campers on scholarship who otherwise wouldn’t be able to have the opportunity to attend.

To everyone who volunteered their time in any way, the organizations and individuals who helped spread the word about YEA Camp, offered advice or kind words of support, THANK YOU. You help us keep going when things feel hard.

We will be announcing our 2016 dates and plans in the coming months, but in the meantime, THANK YOU for everything you do to make our world a better place!

With so much appreciation,

Nora + Team YEA Camp

The post All We Can Say Is WOW! appeared first on YEA Camp.